Blackjack is a great game. If played correctly, the house advantage for the game is a mere 0.5 percent. That means that over time you will get back $99.50 for every $100 you play. Sounds great!
The origins of blackjack is shroudded in mystery. It suppose to have begun as a French game called vingt-et-un, or "21". Early version of the game sprouted up the in the United States around 1800. For most of its history, peopl assumed blackjack was a lot like baccarat. Players couldn't do a whole lot to gain a winning advantage - that was what most people thought.
But then came the Bible of blackjack : "Beat the Dealer", by MIT scientist Edward Thorp. Thorp's 1962 book introduced the concept of card counting, a process that actually gives the concept of card counting, a process that actually gives players an advantage of the house. Two facts of blackjack facts were, that firstly, the composition of the deck changes with every hand dealt. The cards in blackjack have a "memory". Every hand dealt is dependent on what has already been dealt. Second, Throp determined that some combinations of remaining cards favour the house, while others favour the players. Tens and aces remaining in the deck are good for players, while fives and sixes are good for the house. So the way to win, Thorp argued, is to keep track of the cards. Make small bets when the remaining cards favour the dealer and large bets when they don't. In order to beat this, Casinos kept their edge by using five-deck shoes at their blackjack tables. It is much harder to keep track for what's left in the deck if you're dealing with 260 cards rather than fify-two.
And why the name "blackjack"? Early rules of the game awarded a player a ten to one return on his bet if his first two cards were the ace of spaces ("black") and the jack of spades ("jack"), and the name stuck.
The origins of blackjack is shroudded in mystery. It suppose to have begun as a French game called vingt-et-un, or "21". Early version of the game sprouted up the in the United States around 1800. For most of its history, peopl assumed blackjack was a lot like baccarat. Players couldn't do a whole lot to gain a winning advantage - that was what most people thought.
But then came the Bible of blackjack : "Beat the Dealer", by MIT scientist Edward Thorp. Thorp's 1962 book introduced the concept of card counting, a process that actually gives the concept of card counting, a process that actually gives players an advantage of the house. Two facts of blackjack facts were, that firstly, the composition of the deck changes with every hand dealt. The cards in blackjack have a "memory". Every hand dealt is dependent on what has already been dealt. Second, Throp determined that some combinations of remaining cards favour the house, while others favour the players. Tens and aces remaining in the deck are good for players, while fives and sixes are good for the house. So the way to win, Thorp argued, is to keep track of the cards. Make small bets when the remaining cards favour the dealer and large bets when they don't. In order to beat this, Casinos kept their edge by using five-deck shoes at their blackjack tables. It is much harder to keep track for what's left in the deck if you're dealing with 260 cards rather than fify-two.
And why the name "blackjack"? Early rules of the game awarded a player a ten to one return on his bet if his first two cards were the ace of spaces ("black") and the jack of spades ("jack"), and the name stuck.
